On a pork mission, the greatest type of all missions, I went northwards to Freddy and Tony’s Restaurant, a Puerto Rican staple established in 1980. Inside, the multiple Puerto Rican flags and wood paneling assure you won’t mistake this place for anything its not.
Posted at 1:00 pm, September 23rd, 2013 under North East, pork, Puerto Rican.
For a while now Uzbekistan has been my spot to trek to for my Uzebeki food cravings and yes I do often enough have cravings that only Uzbeki food can satisfy. A while back Craig LaBan recommended Samarkand, a bit farther and fancier than Uzbekistan, but offering a very similar menu and comparably affordable prices.
Neither the name nor the look of the storefront of Shish Kabob Palace is particularly enticing. This restaurant, located in a strip mall, certainly does not conjure up the image of a “palace”. You can’t judge a palace by its cover I guess; the sizable menu did a way better job at reeling me in than the meat stick decal on the door.
This palace serves Bukharian and Russian food. Bukharia is a region of Uzbekistan. From my other dining experiences with the cuisine of Russian/former USSR countries I knew this meant I could expect funky cold salads, dumplings in various forms, soups, and skewered meats.
Posted at 1:44 pm, November 19th, 2012 under BYOB, MIddle Eastern, North East, Russian, salad, sit-down, soup, Uzbeki.
Angkor Restaurant is a Cambodian restaurant located north and east of Center City in the Lawncrest area. Angkor can be found inside a shopping mall that also hosts a grocery store and a few other South East Asian dining spots. Angkor has a pretty big menu with authentic and potentially unfamiliar dishes. Its the kind of place you should head to with a group of open minded friends. Just be warned, there is no alcohol and for some reason they do not allow BYO. Basically a whole new meaning for beer tears is happening at Angkor. But their food mostly makes up for that ridiculous policy.
Posted at 2:36 pm, October 25th, 2012 under Cambodian, North East.
This Wednesday, we are exploring the streets, with a Dominican truck that knows how to handle its phallic shaped food.
Just like Moonshine Cuisine, finding The Fritura Dominicana Truck was another instance of passing by , getting a good feeling, and turning the car around to stop. The menu is not your typical food truck menu. A lot of meat is involved, including fried pig feet burgers. Just to warn you, that is not what I ordered.
Posted at 9:00 am, August 10th, 2011 under North East, Wandering Wednesdays.
It’s Wednesday, meaning time to explore lunches outside my guarded Center City purview. I started with New Wave Cafe, but there is another spot to get the real deal Polish food experience- Syreka.
Syrenka is one of the realest places I have lunched at; simple tables to eat at, a counter with hot food to pick from in the front, and a kitchen in the back to make all the rest. The well-used phrases “honest, home cooking” can’t help but come to mind. If you had a Polish grandmother who loved you very much, she would make you the exact meal that I had.
Posted at 10:23 am, July 20th, 2011 under BYOB, North East, Polish.
For the 3rd week in a row, I am interrupting our regularly scheduled/centrally located programing to explore Northeast Philly. This week, it’s Pio Pio, a Cuban “deli, grocery, restaurant”.
With a name like Pio Pio, I assumed Peruvian chicken, since there are a whole bunch of Pio Pio’s in NYC who do just that. Further confusing me were the cute little hatching chicks on the awning, how could I not think it was a chicken joint?
While they do actually serve chicken along with American food (sandwiches, pizza, cheesesteaks) from a counter in the front, I was more interested in the Cuban food from the counter in the back.
Posted at 9:03 am, July 13th, 2011 under Cuban, North East, Wandering Wednesdays.
